A 67-year-old woman died after being set on fire allegedly by her son at a village in Raigad district of Maharashtra over some minor issue, police said.

The incident took place at Navkhar Sudkoli village in Alibag taluka on Tuesday, and the accused Jayesh Khot, 27, was arrested the next day, they said.

“The accused got into an argument with his elderly mother, Changuna Khot, over serving dinner to him. In a fit of rage, he picked up a wooden stick and beat her with it. After that, he hit her with a sickle on her head, in which she was injured,” an official of Revdanda police station said.

However, the accused did not stop at that. He pulled his mother out of the house and poured garbage on her before setting her on fire. She suffered serious burns in the incident and was later admitted to the Civil Hospital in Alibag, where she succumbed to her injuries, he said.

Following a complaint lodged against him, the police arrested the accused and booked him under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 506 (criminal intimidation) and others.

Five children were injured on Thursday when their school van overturned here after its driver, who was apparently using his mobile phone while driving, lost control of the vehicle.

The accident took place in Pali Khurd village when the students of classes V to VIII were on their way to the school. The van driver had lost control of the vehicle after it hit a roadside barrier on a raised portion built on the road along a canal, Superintendent of Police (Rural) Satya Pal Singh said.

There were about 12 children travelling in the van. Five of them were injured and admitted to the Community Health Centre and private hospital for treatment, police said.

One of the students, who was seriously injured, has been referred to the district hospital, they said.

The children travelling in the van said the driver was using the mobile phone while driving due to which he lost control of the vehicle. The driver left the van and ran away.

The villagers working in the nearby fields pulled out the children and rushed them for medical aid, the SP added.

Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy has said that India’s work culture needs to change and youngsters should be prepared to work for 70 hours a week if the country has to compete effectively on the global stage. The 77-year-old was speaking to former Infosys CEO Mohandas Pai on the first episode of 3one4 Capital’s podcast ‘The Record’. Mr Narayana Murthy drew parallels to Japan and Germany, countries that implemented the extended working hours. He also talked about other topics like nation building, technology, his company Infosys and others.

When asked about his vision for the next 10, 15 years, Mr Narayana Murthy highlighted a need to improve productivity in India and sort out the government delays.

“India’s work productivity is one of the lowest in the world. Unless we improve our work productivity, unless we reduce corruption in the government at some level, because we have been reading, I don’t know the truth of it, unless we reduce the delays in our bureaucracy in taking this decision, we will not be able to compete with those countries that have made tremendous progress,” the Infosys founder said.

“So therefore, my request is that our youngsters must say ‘this is my country. I’d like to work 70 hours a week’,” he added.

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Mr Narayana Murthy then presented some historical examples – of Germany and Japan after the Second World War – to underline the critical role of discipline and enhanced productivity.

“This is exactly what the Germans and Japanese did after the Second World War… they made sure that every German worked extra hours for a certain number of years,” Mr Narayana Murthy said on the podcast.

He said it is very important for our youngsters to transform since they form a “significant majority of our population” and “are the ones who can build our country”.

“We need to be disciplined and improve our work productivity. I think unless we do that, what can poor government do? And every government is as good as the culture of the people. And our culture has to change to that of highly determined, extremely disciplined and extremely hard-working people,” Mr Narayana Murthy added.

His comments sparked a debate among users on social media.

“Agree with him… work 40 hours for your employer and 30 hours for your own interests,” commented one user.

“Completely disagree about the 70 hours a week! According to the 70 hours work week we will be the best country, but at what cost? What will that individual achieve after working 70 hours a week? Good health? Good family? Good companion? Happiness? Fulfillment? What will the individual achieve? If the individual is aiming for success after working 70 hours a week, I would like that individual to define success?” asked another.

“Then companies also need to pay on hourly basis… Indian companies won’t do that,” a third user said.